Wind,Rain,Winding Roads & Sunshine, The By-Ways of Life

The Chosen - Article 5- The Woman Who Laughed

He had just reached his tenth year of life as she opened her eyes and blasted out the first cry of her existence.

 As relatives living in the household of their father, the two grew up together, and he had watched her mature into the young woman he desired to marry.  The covenant of marriage mirrored their love:  their nights were filled with anticipation of what lie ahead, and the intimate yearnings of two lovers' heart did not go unfulfilled. Night after night, they lay in each other's arms and explored the depth of their desire for each other.

One would have thought that the unification of their love would have produced a seed. Yet nothing happen, and each month, the woman endured the inquiring looks of the other women in the town, and the whispers of the men who frown upon her barrenness.

Her husband adored her. Despite the frowns, the jeers, the unkind words that came to his ears, his faithfulness to her remain unbroken.  She was the child he had seen at birth, the girl that had matured into a woman under his loving care: Unfaithfulness to her never came across his mind; she was the love of his life, yet she was childless.

 What would you have done if you knew that a promise had been given to your husband that you had not fulfilled?

The years passed by. Their nights of enjoyment had not decreased. The man she loved had not humiliated her by putting her away or taking on another wife to bear what her body had refused to give him.

She persuaded him to take her handmaid. He agreed and went into the tent of the handmaid; a boy is conceived.

The handmaid rejected the woman whom she had served and her pride brought about abuse from her employer that caused her to runaway, and the father of her child did nothing. His love belonged to the woman whom he had seen at birth.

Thirteen years would pass before the woman did the impossible.

The sky was blue:  White fluffy clouds were dancing below the heavenly blue sky when the three men appeared. She helped her husband to prepare the meal and stood inside the tent eavesdropping. The visitors had mysteriously appeared in their part of the desert, and she wanted to find out where they came from. The one in the middle did the talking. She saw how her husband bowed to him, treating him with respect and giving him the highest honor. 

Then the visitor told Abraham something that was for her the best joke she had heard in all her years.

"I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah, your wife will have a son."[1]

She laughed. Her whole body shook with laughter at the ludicrous statement, and her visitor heard her laughter.

"Then the LORD said unto Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say will I really have a child, now that I am old?  Is anything to hard for the LORD?  I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son."

 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh."

 But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."[2] 

Sarah was in her 90^th year when her baby boy opened his eyes to the world.

This woman who is the mother of many nations, had borned a son and given him the name that reveals one of the basic emotions of God,

Laughter,

He laughs.

Her son was Isaac,

The son of laughter,

The heir of the Promise,

Conceived in the womb of Sarah,

Beloved wife of Abraham,

The Woman who laughed.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

[1] Genesis 18:10, The New International Version, 1984, ZONDERVAN

[2] Genesis 18:13-15,   The New International Version,  1984, ZONDERVAN

Related articles

Woman Of The Bible Series/Hagar

- God Keeps His Promises -

Filled with Laughter

The Chosen - Article 4 - The Receiver Of The Covenant

Born ten generations after the great flood, the lad grew up hearing the tales about the invisible God from his descendants who had survived.  He probably sat at the feet of his great grandfather Noah, many times removed and listened as he taught him lessons in obedience: He learned first hand from his grandfather Shem, son of Noah, who tutored him: Shem opened the boy's eyes to the ordinances and decrees of God.[1] The boy grew up focused: The God of Noah, the God of Shem was his God too.

He was the second child among three boys:  A record of his childhood is not recorded in the Bible.  What is recorded is the lineage, the heritage, and the opportunity his father, Terah, missed due to his own idol worship.

Called to leave his country at the age of seventy-five, the man, now married, childless, and wealthy heard the voice to depart,  to go, to leave what he had come to know and move into the unknown.   

He took his wife; his household, and his nephew along with his household accompanied him.  Probably, his entire village considered him to be crazy. Some may have tried to convince him to stay; others may have argued with him, and still others may have pleaded for him to reconsider: But the townspeople's words fell on deaf ears that refused to listen; their visions  fell on blind eyes that refuse to see what they saw; the eyes and ears of the man were cloaked with the faith he had received from the tutelage of his tutor and great great grandfather.  

• How do you explain to those you love you have heard a voice; a voice no one else has heard? 

• How do you come to terms with separating yourselves from people you have known all your life? 

• Where do you get the courage to leave familiarity and enter into the strangeness of a world you do not know?

 At the age of seventy-five, most people are waiting upon death. This man began the adventure of his life.

 Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you.[2]

"What are you going?" asked the Prophet.

"Don't know," said the man. "God said he will show me."

One man's obedience to launch out into the unknown saved not only a nation but also guaranteed that salvation  would come to earth for all mankind forty-two generations, later.

Thus, there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.[3]

 

Abraham,

The receiver of the covenant,

The father of many nations,

The father of the faithful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

 

---

[1] http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112063/jewish/Abrahams-Early-Life.htm

 

[2] Genesis 12:1-3. THE BIBLE. New International Version, 1984. ZONDERVAN.

[3] Matthew 1:17. THE BIBLE. New International Version, 1984.  ZONDERVAN

The Chosen - Article 3 - The Hooker and Her Scarlet Rope

Her job was not the type desired by most women.  It may have earned the most profit, but the job was frown upon, considered not suitable for women who were looking for marriage.

Single, intelligent, robust, and well groomed, the hooker managed her company with pride.  Quick witted and clever, her shrewdness demanded respect from her customers. She did not tolerate foolishness. As managing director of her company, she had learned early in life how to pit herself against the male dominating class and in her line of work she needed,

• This hardness,
• This steadfastness,
• This I can do anything mentality. 

She shunned popularity, yet she could not avoid it. Everyone from the prominent to the penniless pauper knew where she lived.

Female friends---No thank you. She learned early to refrain from such friendships. Most females had no desire to know her anyway. Her kind represented the scum of society; association of any kind took place only under tight secrecy. Of course, the town bantered her name about with jovial descriptions and gestures, but the things they said were not words they would repeat publically, and certainly, not to her.

Even though no one considered her a lady, just someone to have a little bit of fun with every now and then, no one dared to annoy her for fear their secret would be revealed. 

After all, she committed acts of intimacy the magnificent genteel women that many of the men had married would never dream of committing. They were respectable women; the genteel of  society, and everyone knew genteel women only tolerated the attentions of their husbands. Intimacy stemmed out of their benevolent act of kindness.

Never mind that the hooker might have been the bread earner in her family; never mind that she ran a profitable establishment combined with hotel; never mind that she took pride in doing the best she could do with what she had. 

The fact that she did what she did made her the scum of society, unfit to be treated with respect, and unfit to live––with the exception of nighttime pleasures she gave to whoever could afford it.

However, the hooker had strength. Along with others of her city, she had heard the rumors, which circulated throughout the city.  She knew something was about to take place, something, which would destroy her and her family, if she did not take matters into her own hands and bargain quickly.

So, when the two men showed up at her hotel, she waited patiently until the right time presented itself.  That they were different and stood out among all the other guests that frequented her establishment made her open her heart to trust the two strange and peculiar men, they were not like the others.  They were not disrespectable, and contrary to most men; they did not demand she spread her legs to practice her trade.

They knew she was the town whore, but they respected her, and it confirmed the stories she had heard about this God who had declared himself as the Watchman for this peculiar people.

The city had been expecting the men to show up. The guards at the gate had been doubled. The wall had been repaired where needed and a decree, issued by the king ordered the citizens to be cautious of any strangers.

Everyone expected the men to walk into the city and live in a respectable hotel. The city's inhabitants were on the look out.  No one suspected they would go live in the house planted high up  on the wall.

Can't you see her people?

Here is a woman shunned by society,

• A prostitute,
• A hooker,
• A whore,

Whom no one would give the time of day, yet she was hostess to two spies delegated to spy out her land and became the first foreigner to enter into the lineage of The Messiah. She was the prostitute who negotiated for the lives of the only citizens who would remain alive and well on that dreadful day when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

• How do you come to your negotiating table? Are you prepared?

This woman was.

---------------

Something went wrong, and the king and his officials began to tremble.  Strangers had been seen.  

Someone in the king's court whispered,  "They entered the house of Rahab."[1]

Outrage, the King sent an order to the woman, "Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have to spy out the whole land."[2]

• How could two men managed to slip through the tight security in such a secure city? 

Diplomacy was needed, and the woman was brilliant. Knowing the men had been seen entering her quarters, she practiced the diplomatic art of lying.

"Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk when it was time to close the city gate, the men left.  I don't know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them."[3]

The city was built on a mound embanked by earth, at the top, the mud-brick wall, six feet thick and twenty-six feet high, at the base, forty-six feet thick above ground level outside the retaining wall.   

Built into the back wall, at the top, her house stood out. Centrally located, it made it easier for those who snuck in to easily sneak out.  The woman hid them in the roof under stalks of flax she had laid out, and while the king's soldiers rode out into the night to find them, the men were resting comfortably in the roof of the prostitute.

They had not yet fallen asleep when she came up to the roof with her proposition.  What must they have thought? Here, a gentile, a woman who worshipped strange gods, the town whore, yet she did not find it beneath herself to seek asylum from the God she had heard about. She sought mercy from Yahweh.

• What would you offer for your life and the lives of your family?

• How do you bargain for something when a decision has already fallen? Or do you just give up and accept the inevitable? 

The deal was negotiated. "Our lives for your lives," declared the spies.  That one sentence redeemed her mother and father, her brothers and sisters, and all who belonged to them, and her life and belongings and kept an entire nation from being destroyed.

Early morning and the time came to flee–– but how? The men surveyed the window. It was a sizeable drop. The woman thought quickly and brought out a scarlet rope, and pointed at the window, which was often used to help some straying husband steal away in the midnight hours––the window which became the window to freedom.

------------------

• What would you have demanded as a guarantee or a security deposit to insure your negotiators kept their word?

The two spies gave her instructions to follow, to cash in on her guarantee. Her scarlet rope had to be hanging in the window of freedom. The woman took her guarantee, the scarlet rope, and packed it away safely.

The time arrived.   The first day of the march began, and the woman hurriedly placed her scarlet rope in the window to be seen.

Can't you see her people?

The whore turned negotiator had been Chosen to be the last remnant of her nation!  Her nationality was being wiped out. She and the people in her home were the only survivors!

Sitting in the safety of her house, surrounded by her family and all they possessed, she lived through the judgment that fell on her people and not one of them was injured!

Her faith in the Yahweh of Israel saved her entire household.  There was no doubt in her mind, the LORD is God, and the God of Israel is the LORD!

-------------------

Years passed. Time changed.  It is Anno Domini.  The Messiah has come into the world and has returned back to the Father.  One day, one of the recorders of history, Matthew, led by the Holy Spirit, was capturing the ancestry line of the Son of God on parchment. As he notated the lineage starting with Abraham, he had to smile as he recorded the lines of The Chosen leading up to the eleventh generation.

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon the father of Boaz,

Whose mother was Rahab, the prostitute.[4]

A few years later, another writer sat down and began to record the names of the first people who entered faith's Hall of Fame, the Generals who helped change the history of the world. As he began to annotate his proof of faith in God and its effects upon history, he also smiled as the Holy Spirit led him to write down,

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[5]

Rahab, 

• The prostitute,
• The hooker, 
• The whore,

The woman twice mentioned in the inspired Word of God, the Holy Bible,  was indoctrinated in faith's Hall of fame.

There is no favoritism in God! 

• Your past,
• Your age,
• Your nationality

Does not matter with him!

I closed my eyes, and In my spirit, I heard the loud mouth disciple, who betrayed Jesus three times, as he declared in the house of Cornelius, after he had finally understood a pin drop of the plan as revealed to him by the Holy Spirit,

 "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men and women from every nation who fear him and do what is right."[6]*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

 

 

---

[1] Joshua 2:1, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, Edited 1984, ZONDERVAN

[2] Joshua 2:3, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, Edited 1984, ZONDERVAN

[3] Joshua 2:4-5, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, Edited 1984, ZONDERVAN

[4] Matthew 1:4-5, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, Edited 1984, ZONDERVAN

[5] Hebrews 11:3, THE HOLY BIBLE,  The New International Version, Edited 1984, ZONDERVAN

[6] Acts 10:34, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, Edited 1984, ZONDERVAN

*Verse changed to include women by Pat Garcia

The Chosen - Article 2- The Woman and Her Vow

A woman of humility and kindness, she was married and adored by her husband. She was the second of his wives, and he had chosen her because of her heart attitude.  The man loved her; he slept with her often and took her in an act of love, declaring his love for her, as he ejaculated his semen within her.   

In those days, the number of children that sprung through a woman's womb determined the measurement of a man's love for his wife. Whenever a man and woman united together in the highest act of love that was ordained by God, between a man and woman, the fertilization of the female egg caused a conception, which was a sign of God's acceptance, God's favour, but this woman's womb remained barren.  The eggs within her remained unfertile, and the woman despaired over the plight of her barrenness and her inability to conceive.  

Her husband loved her deeply.  He recognized the pain and disappointment she carried within her, and he did everything within his power to alleviate the embarrassment and pain of rejection she felt.  Even though he took her often in his arms and carried out this god given act of sexual intimacy with her, which climaxed into the release of his semen being injected into her, the desired fertilization of one of her eggs never took place.  God had shut up her womb.

• What do you do when seeds that are planted within you lay dormant?

• How do you fertilize the many eggs of talent that lay unused, hidden beneath the layers of fear, which keep you from stretching your wings and flying?

• How do you awaken the flame, so that it catches fire and begins to burn as it forces you to take action?

Desperation set in. Her husband had no idea what he could do to help her.

His faithfulness remained unbroken;

His care–– without blame,

His love–– unstained;

Yet her womb remained barren.

One day, he caught her crying. He could feel the pain that rumbled deep within and burdened her soul. Helplessness overcame him because his hands were tied.  There was nothing he could do to change the matter. It was a situation that was not in his hands––a circumstance in which he did not have any say in the matter one-way or the other.  So, when he entered his home and caught her wailing in misery, he cried out to her in desperation:

"Why are you weeping? Why don't you eat?  Why are you downhearted?

Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?"[1]

 

-----------

Once every year the people had to appear in Shiloh before the LORD Almighty.  This year was no different.  The man's first wife and all of her brood received their portions of meat for the sacrifice, and the second wife, for whom he had a special love, because God had closed up her womb, received a double portion. The trip was long and tedious. The barren woman, the object of mockery, ridicule and torture from the first wife, dreaded the trip each year. The whispers, pointed fingers, and jeers stung deep into her soul. No longer able to bear the burden, she ran to the temple, after the sacrifice, to hide behind the curtains, and cry out her worry, her pain, and her feelings of worthlessness to Yahweh.

"O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head."[2]

 

----------

The vow had been made silently, because her pain sat in the middle of her heart and robbed her of the strength to speak. She sobbed as she moved her mouth, pleading her case to God, begging him to hear her summons.  Like someone who had drunk too much wine, she wailed soundlessly, as tears flowed down her face, and the watchman for the temple thought she was drunk.

"How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine."

"Not so, my lord," the woman replied. "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the LORD.  Do not take your servant for a wicked woman.  I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief."

The Watchman answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."

She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes."  Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.[3] 

• How do you deal with unanswered prayers? 

• Do you plead with the only one who can change things?

• Or do you seek the advice of your friends and neighbors to explain why certain prayers have not been heard?

• Who do you turn to?

 

------------

The trip home was totally opposite of the woman's trip going to Shiloh. Her mood had swung.  Expectancy hung in the air.  She was relaxed and full of joy, and her husband came to her bed late in the evening, seeking the sexual intimacy that transpires between a man and a woman bonded together in covenant marriage. As he ejaculated the outpouring of his love into her, an egg received life.  She felt the fertilization as the egg fell and nested itself within her womb.

Nine months later, her child was born.

It was a boy;

It was her only child;

It was her comfort;

It was her retirement for old age;

But, she had made a vow.

 

---------- 

• Have you ever made a vow to God, only to forget it, after you have received the prize?

This woman did not forget! The following year as her husband prepared to go to Shiloh, she informed him she would not be going until the child was weaned. 

• Can't you see her with her little baby as she rocks him in her arms, talking to him about his glorious future with the LORD? 

• Can't you see her when he takes his first steps, as she jumps for joy and tells him those steps were the first steps of his walking into his chosen purpose?

• Can't you see her as she sews the first linen Ephod for her child, just turning three years of age? His Ephod was the smallest ever made!  

A barren woman who had made a silent vow was chosen to show God's faithfulness to those who seek him diligently. She had no idea whether she would ever become pregnant again. She had asked for only one child––the child whom she had vowed to give back.

---------------

The time had come. The young child looked cute in his small, sized Ephod.  As they started towards Shiloh, the young mother began to explain to her son the importance of the day. It had come time to pay up, and she made a promise to visit him every year.

Accompanying her husband to the temple, she had a contented smile on her face.  As they approached the Watchman, she had to tell him who she was.  He had forgotten, and suddenly he saw the little tiny tot who had been peeping up at him while holding on to his mother's dress, as she stood before him. 

"He's yours," she said.  "He belongs to God." 

The Watchman, Eli; guardian of the temple was humbled over the faithfulness of the woman.  As the young boy walked to Eli, his tiny hands stretched upward to God, the woman's, Hannah, wife of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, heart overflowed with joy, tears ran down her face, and her mouth brought forth words of praise, as she began to pray:

My heart rejoices in the LORD;

In the LORD my horn is lifted high.

My mouth boasts over my enemies,

For I delight in your deliverance.

There is no one holy like the LORD;

There is no one besides you;

There is no rock like our God.[4]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shalom,

Pat Garcia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] 1 Samuel 1:8, The HOLY BIBLE,  New International Version, ZONDERVAN, 1984 Edition.

[2] 1 Samuel 1:11, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, ZONDERVAN, 1984 Edition.

[3] 1 Samuel 1:12-18, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, ZONDERVAN, 1984 Edition.

[4] 1 Samuel 2:1-2, THE HOLY BIBLE, The New International Version, ZONDERVAN, 1984 Edition

The Chosen - Article 1 - The Shepherd Boy

After a long, hard ride, he walked to the village he was directed to go to visit.  The old man was tired.  The necessity of the trip, the secrecy that lay behind it and the purpose burdened the old man and had cost him energy.  As he looked back towards his own life, he knew that this mission was one that could cost him his life, so he had gotten up in the early hours of the morning, after preparing for his trip, and made sure that all was well with his own life.

 

He checked to see if his writings had been properly categorized, checked to see if the dates in his journals had been properly recorded, so whoever would read his writings in the future would be able to reference them to the appropriate time period and events. 

 

Finally, he checked in with his boss to confirm his instructions.  He had pleaded with him to reconsider his decision the night before.  He had hoped there was still some chance the boss would reverse his decision, even though, deep within he knew his boss had spoken the last word on the situation. 

 

It was in the midnight hours of the night when he received confirmation, and although his aching soul quieted, the answer from his boss created a storm within him, and he got up to go immediately. The decision from his boss was irreversible, and he was told, now is the time for implementation.

 

• What do you do when you have received an order you would not like to execute?

 

• How do you deal with those life and death situations, which test your will to live or to die?

 

• How do you react to the unknown future that lies before you?

 

Rousing himself out of his lethargy, he walked towards the door, not knowing if this were the last time he would cross over the threshold of his own door. 

 

Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but thou art mighty,

Hold me with thy powerful hand:

Bread of heaven,

Feed me till I want no more.[1]

 

 

The sun had come up as the old man entered into the city.  The market place was crowded.  The people trembled, frightened, as they pondered over his appearance in their city.   After all, everyone had heard of his disagreement with the King, and they wondered if his appearance meant something terrible was about to happen to their small, quaint, little town.

 

 

 

 

"Comest thou peaceably?"

 

"Yes, peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice."[2]

 

The people sanctified themselves, and the old man called out the man and his sons whom he had been chosen to sanctify, and he called them to the sacrifice. He sat before the people waiting on all of the man's sons to appear.  The old man knew the order of the procedure for the sacrifice by memory.

 

• Had he not administered it since he was a boy?

 

• Had he not been prepared since he had been weaned from his mother's breast to be the oracle of God?

 

• Had he not implemented the rules and ordinances of the LORD since the first time he had heard his voice?

 

As they walked towards him, the confidence of the old man shone in his eyes.  Surely, it is the first born, he thought.  This must be the one. His stature is magnificent. A fine specimen of a man made by God.  The old man stood there, wanting to go towards him with the sacred oil. Suddenly, the voice he was so familiar with whispered to him.

 

"Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

 

Open now the crystal fountain,

Whence the healing streams do flow;

Let the fiery, cloudy pillar

Lead me all my journey through:

Strong Deliverer,

Be thou still my strength and shield.[3]

 

The old man sat there as the man's sons paraded before him. Each with his own beauty was a magnificent specimen. They were warriors who had been in the heat of the battle and survived; warriors who had learned the tactics of war; warriors who knew what it meant to obey their Commander- in- Chief.  Yet, they were all rejected. Bright, intelligent, healthy, cunning and talented as they all were, they were rejected!

 

Frustration was written on the old man's face as he asked, "Are these all your sons?"

 

The man looked at the old man and said, "There's one more, but he won't do you any good. He only takes care of the sheep, dreams, writes, and plays music the entire day. 

 

"Send for him," the old man said. "The sacrificial offerings will not begin without him."[4]

 

So, the man sent for his youngest son. It took some time to get him and bring him before the old man, but it did not matter. The old man waited, patiently. 

 

Had he not learned to wait until he heard the command to take action? 

 

Had he not lived his whole life obeying the voice called him so many years ago?

 

 

The youngest son ran into the house, red and burnt from the sun.  No one had ever demanded his presence.  If anything, he was often chased away by his brothers, as they laughingly chided him to go take care of his sheep.  Sure, he had inherited their good looks too, but in comparison to them, he was a ruddy dreamer who wrote and read poetry, and played on musical instruments. No man would ever dare to do such things, so they had designated him to a lifetime of sheep herding.

 

• Have you sometimes asked yourself why you are here?

 

• Have you let people labeled you into being something that you don't want to be?

 

• Have you given up your dream because you looked at obstacles you thought were impossible to overcome?

 

• Have you heard a soft voice within you beckoning you to give him a chance?

 

 

"There he is! He is the one I have chosen!"[5] The old man heard the voice say to him excitedly, and he stood up. Walking toward the boy, he took out his horn of oil and anointed the keeper of sheep, the shepherd boy, the dreamer, and the writer as his brothers looked on, and David became the second king of Israel, and thereby, was anointed into direct lineage of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Savior of every person who comes to him.

 

 

 

 

When I tread the verge of Jordan,

Bid my anxious fears subside;

Bear me through the swelling current;

Land me safe on Canaan's side;

Songs of praises I will ever give to thee.[6]

 

 

Bread of Heaven,

Bread of Heaven

Feed me till I want no more.[7]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ciao,

Pat Garcia

---

[1]   HYMN 99, William Williams.  1773. The BAPTIST HYMNAL.  Judson Press, Valley Forge, Pa. 1883. New Edition, March 1920.

[2] First Samuel 16:4-5,  The HOLY BIBLE, King James Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1972.

[3] HYMN 99, William Williams.  1773. The BAPTIST HYMNAL.  Judson Press, Valley Forge, Pa, 1883. New Edition, March 1920

[4] First Samuel 16:10, THE HOLY BIBLE, King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1972

[5] First Samuel 16:12-13, THE HOLY BIBLE, King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1972

[6] HYMN 99, William Williams.  1773. The BAPTIST HYMNAL.  Judson Press, Valley Forge, Pa, 1883. New Edition, March 1920

[7] HYMN 99, William Williams.  1773. The BAPTIST HYMNAL.  Judson Press, Valley Forge, Pa. 1883. New Edition, March 1920

^{(8) Sunshine  courtesy of   Photographer and writer, Linda Halpin, New York City, New York}